Downgrading Windows 10 After 30 Days is Possible – Here’s How

Millions of users have upgraded their devices to Windows 10 from Windows 7, 8 or Windows 8.1. Microsoft offers you to test the new operating system for a month and roll back to the version you were running your devices on previously, if you don’t like it. However, you cannot roll back after the 30 day limit. This fixed timeline may impact your decision of staying on Windows 10 if you aren’t really impressed with its features or are annoyed with compatibility or other more invasive issues. If the 30 day timeframe is the reason making you downgrade earlier than you wish to, this little trick might help your dilemma.

How to downgrade Windows 10 after 30 days:

Microsoft’s limited timeframe of allowing users to downgrade to earlier Windows versions is definitely putting users in unnecessary pressure of keeping up with the new OS or downgrading without giving it enough time. There could be several reasons behind this strategy, most agreed-upon being the compatibility troubles with third-party apps. If that is not a deadline enough for you to try the new OS and decide if you want to stick to it or roll back, you can most possibly downgrade after the deadline too. All you have to do is rename two folders in your c drive – Windows.Old and $Windows.~BT or $Windows.~WS depending on if you upgraded through the app or did a clean install, respectively. You will have to enable viewing of hidden folders to have access to these.

These two folders are created by Windows during the upgrade process and are required files to perform the rollback. Once the 30 day limit is over, Windows 10 deletes these files to ensure that you can no longer downgrade to earlier operating system version. By renaming these files, you are essentially tricking your operating system to not delete these. When you do intend to roll back Windows 10 after the 30 day limit, TWCsuggests to rename them back to their original names. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery to downgrade to your earlier operating system version.

If you are worried about the chances of upgrading to Windows 10 again in the future, there doesn’t seem to be any reason why it should be a difficulty. If all fails, you can always do a clean install and use product keys. Along with the back up of these renamed rollback files, you can also keep the product key to be able to go up to Windows 10 whenever you are confident with the OS. To get the key, open command prompt (while you are still on Windows 10) and run the following command:

wmic path softwarelicensingservice get OA3xOriginalProductKey

This is definitely not a tried and tested process as it still hasn’t been a month since Windows 10 started rolling out on July 29. We will update you if this trick indeed works as it would be a great help to know that you can roll back Windows 10 whenever you want to.